“Don’t sit there all satisfied with yourself,” Becky stated.
“Was I right?”
“About what?” Helena asked, placing her hand on the small of Becky’s back as they walked over toward her, skipping the buffet laid out before them. “Do you want some coffee?”
“In a minute,” Becky replied with a wink. “And how did you know?” she asked Nia and sat down across from her, with Helena taking the chair between them.
“Know what?”
“Oh, come on… You knew howIfelt because we’re friends, but how did you know that Helena liked me?”
“I’ve been doing this a long time now, Becky. Besides, she was pretty obvious in her application.”
“Iwas?” Helena asked.
“For one of the questions, you all have to tell me what you have done so far to try to find love. You mentioned you hired a matchmaker who was terrible because she kept sending you on dates with the wrong women, and you kept going back for more because you actually had feelings for her, but, eventually, it got too hard because she was in a long-term relationship. You two live in the same city. Your name is Helena. Becky here liked a client named Helena. She never told me your last name, so don’t worry about that. I just put two and two together and figured there might be a chance your feelings were still there because I knew hers were. It wasn’t just that, though. When I put these events together, it’s not about two specific people or even finding one possible person for someone. People are fickle, in my experience. I could put their perfect soulmate right in front of them, and they’d argue why that person isn’t the right one for them and go for someone else entirely. For these weeks, all of you are paired with people youcouldpossibly be happy with; in my experience, at least. It’s never perfect, but, Becky, you could have ended up with Carrie. According to both of your applications and questionnaires, you two could have a nice life together.”
“Hey!” Helena said.
“I’m good, babe,” Becky replied and smiled over at her as she took her hand on the table. Then, she turned back to Niaand added, “On that note, I know this probably messes up your group dynamic thing, but I don’t want to be paired up with anyone else.”
“I see.”
“We can leave and take an earlier flight home, if we’re in the way here, but we also wouldn’t mind staying, if that’s okay with you,” Becky told her. “We just don’t want to participate in the nightly partner swap thing, but we’re okay with anything else. I know how hard you work to plan this stuff, including the daily events, so we’re happy to stay, but I want to be with Helena for the rest of the week.”
“I figured you might,” Nia replied and took a sip of her coffee. “My plans for the rest of the week counted on that.”
“They did?”
“Becky, I hoped you two would figure it out. Then, I saw you constantly staring at one another the first couple of days and the looks you’d give when you weren’t paired with each other for the night, I knew you would.”
“Then, why didn’t you pair us together the first night?” Helena asked.
“You needed that first night with someone else.” Nia shrugged a shoulder. “I knew Becky would be shocked and that Carrie would be a good person for her to talk to. And if you weren’t interested, after all, Helena, Carrie would have been a good match for her. As for you – well, I don’t know what you’ve told Becky about your first night, and I obviously don’t know anything for certain myself, but I had a feeling you might need to…”
“Sleep with Jennifer,” Helena finished. “She knows.”
“You knew she’d sleep with Jennifer?” Becky asked.
“I don’t really everknowanything. I have ideas, theories, and thoughts, and I work with them to provide the best possible experiences and outcomes to my clients. Based on what I knewabout both of them, I thought that they could be good together in bed and that Helena might need that.”
“She needed to sleep with someone else before me?”
“I thought that she might need someone to help relieve some stress in just the right way so she could be ready to be brave and tell you how she felt, yes. I thought that she might need someone to beopento possibilities.”
“But not…” Becky faded out, and Nia understood. “I mean, you didn’t… She didn’t…”
“You want to talk about that?” Nia asked.
“Talk about what?” Helena asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“I haven’t told her about that thing I mentioned to you, like, one time when I was drunk,” Becky said to Nia.
“Three times. Twice while you were sober.”
“What are you two talking about?” Helena pressed.
Nia looked at Becky, giving her the chance to either explain or leave it for later with Helena.
